Farmers fear worst harvest in 40 years

Britain's farmers are facing their worst harvest in 40 years after one of the wettest summers recorded.

By Chris Irvine

6:29AM BST 10 Sep 2008

The harvest has been worst hit in the North East, especially Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Co Durham, where the heavy rainfall and flooding have meant that on many farms less than 50 per cent of the wheat has been harvested.

Farmers could lose as much as £30,000 each because much of the grain in the soil is suitable only for animal feed, with the price of this particular grain dropping from £120 to £100 a tonne in a month - best milling wheat is valued at £140 to £150 a tonne.

Hilary Benn, the Rural Affairs Secretary, is expected to allow special exemption for farmers to salvage what is left of their crops by using heavy machinery on the wet fields.

European Union machinery rules and prolonged rain mean the crops may rot in the wet fields before they can be collected.

The EU rules ban farmers from using combine harvesters on wet land to protect soil quality, but Mr Benn's exemption is expected to last for about three weeks.

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Guy Gagen, chief arable adviser at the National Farmers' Union, said: "This is the most difficult harvest for at least 40 years. Farmers say it compares to 1968, which was very similar, with heavy rain throughout the summer. We just need a break in the weather. If we get that for five to seven days farmers can recover."

There is also concern rising about next year's harvest, with fears farmers will be unable to prepare the ground and plant seed in time unless they can clear this year's crop within the next two weeks.

Industry experts are revising their estimates for the total wheat yield. Early forecasts were that it would be as much as 16.5 million tonnes, but this could be cut by 10 per cent.